Minutes of the Calvert Green Parish Council Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 13th
May 2015
1. ATTENDANCE AND APOLOGIES
PRESENT: Cllr Brian Pethick (Chair), Cllr Sarah Smith, Cllr Phil Gaskin, Clerk
APOLOGIES: Cllr Carl Blakeley, Cllr Marie Swan
MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC: 7
2. ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN
ACTIO
N
Cllr Pethick had been elected onto the Parish Council uncontested and was happy to
continue in his role as Chairman
3. ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIRMAN
Cllr Phil Gaskin had been elected onto the Parish Council uncontested and was happy to
continue in his role as Vice-Chairman
4. ACCEPTANCE OF OFFICE
Cllr Sarah Smith had been elected onto the Parish Council uncontested
5. CO-OPTION OF CLLRS BLAKELEY AND SWAN
Cllrs Blakeley and Swan were co-opted back onto the Parish Council PROPOSED: Cllr
Smith and SECONDED: Cllr Pethick. Their forms were signed by the Parish Clerk
6. REVIEW OF ANNUAL ACCOUNTS 2014/15
The internal Auditor had audited the accounts that afternoon and had approved them.
Section 2 with Accounting Statements was read out and approved by all Councillors. It was
then signed by the Chairman and by the Clerk.
7. DECLARATION OF INTERESTS:
None were declared
CORRESPONDENCE:
a) Clothes bank - an email had been received requesting the Parish Council consider
a clothing bank being located in the Car Park to raise funds for Twyford School.
This was discussed briefly, but it was felt it should be adjourned until July’s
meeting.
b) Dog fouling signs – an invitation had been sent to the Clerk to attend a meeting at
Grendon School on Tuesday 12 May, to discuss the pupils designing posters to
display in local villages to discourage owners letting their dogs foul and not clearing
it up. The Clerk was unable to attend the meeting but Councillors felt this was a
good idea and asked the Clerk to respond that Calvert Green would be interested
in displaying posters.
c) Cllr MacPherson’s Annual Report had been sent to the Parish Council. It had been
posted on the PC website and a copy had been available at the meeting for those
residents attending to read.
d) Wheelie bin speed limit stickers – an email had been received and this was
generally agreed to be a good idea 900 stickers would costs £310 which was
agreed. These would either be circulated with the next newsletter or before.
Clerk to
respon
d to
GUCS
to say
PC
interest
ed
8. MINUTES – TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
These were agreed and signed as a true record of the meeting held on 28th April 2015.
9. FEEDBACK FROM MEETINGS/FORUMS ATTENDED SINCE LAST MEETING:
None that would not be covered in forthcoming items
10. HALL DEVELOPMENT
Four Architects had been asked to quote, two were not interested and two attended for
interview. It has been agreed the Parish Council will appoint Espresso Architects Ltd and a
letter of intent is to be sent out. This was PROPOSED: Cllr Pethick and SECONDED: Cllr
Smith. A new design per the brief will be created, along with new drawings and this will be
re-submitted to planning. A fee of £17,500 will be charged for this service and it will also
include CDM and Project Management, payment will be staged. The Parish Council went
back to the drawing board as the previous plans were too expensive and not what the
Parish wanted. The total cost is estimated to be £350k, made up of £200k New Homes
Bonus grant, £50k WREN funding, £30k from Parish Council funds, the Community
Association will fit out the bar and the balance of the funding will be by a loan or further
grants. Once the new plans are available they will be displayed in the Hall for residents to
see and notice will be given.
12. COMMUNITY PROJECT PROGRESS (PREVIOUSLY AGREED)
a) Path between the four villages - the Bucks Local Area Forum are prepared to
contribute £5k towards a feasibility study. Cllr Smith met with Paul Hodson from
BCC to discuss this and it was agreed we would concentrate on paths between
Charndon and Endecott and Steeple Claydon would not be included as this would
come under mitigation for HS2.
b) Broadband – Cllr Gaskin had attended the Gigaclear meeting in Grendon
Underwood. He confirmed they have hit the target number to install fibre and this
will be installed during the summer of 2015. Calvert Green canvassing will
commence in June 2015 by Gigaclear and if the target number is hit it could be
installed by the end of 2015. Village Networks and BT are also options and these
have been discussed previously.
13. PROPOSED COMMUNITY PROJECTS – TO APPROVE PROJECTS AND
SPENDING
a) Neighbourhood Plan – Cllr Pethick is attending a meeting with Kevin Hewson who
is working with Quainton on preparing their Neighbourhood Plan. He also
confirmed that letters are being sent to AVDC and BCC asking for their comments
on Calvert Green Garden City. Councillors expressed assistance from
Parishioners to complete the Neighbourhood Plan.
b) Location of bus stops – no further response despite two emails chasing this.
.
14. HS2
Cllr Gaskin had attended a meeting with FCC to establish where they are with the petition
for HS2. The select committee were due to visit Calvert Green on 22 nd May, this has now
been cancelled. There is a meeting with HS2 tomorrow at the Hall which Cllr Gaskin will
attend; agenda items to be discussed are compensation, sidings, transport and access. He
has also asked AVDC and BCC to support the Parish Council and they have confirmed
they will. We are also petitioning about the soil which will be dumped during the tunnel
construction, on the left hand side field going out of Calvert towards Steeple Claydon. This
could have serious implications if it were to slide into the lake. We now have more time to
prepare our petition as the meeting has now been cancelled.
15. LANDFILL
No further information to report
16. PLANNING APPLICATIONS
None received
17. SUMMARY OF SPEND AND APPROVAL OF ITEMS PER SCHEDULE
The summary of spend had been circulated there is a balance in the current account of
£19, 974.92 and £57,808.34 in the high interest account.
The following expenditure items were approved:
£
Paul Davies planter invoice - met by funding from Cllr
MacPherson
Paul Davies 18/5/15 verge cut
CGCA - 2015 contribution towards Play around the Parishes
50%
202.00
200.00
200.00
14. DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be on Tuesday 7th July 2015 at 8 pm
OPEN FORUM
Grass cutting was discussed and the Clerk was asked to chase Bucks CC for their
schedule for grass cuts this season. They had not been to CG at all and we are currently
funding verge cuts out of the precept. A request was also made to ask Paul if the verges
could be cut shorter, the Clerk did explain that there is an abundance of daisies, dandelions
and buttercups that shoot up the day after the grass has been cut. .
The meeting closed at 9.40 pm there were no further questions from residents.